Lucy Mangan's weekend column + Monopoly | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/lucy-mangan-weekend-column+monopoly
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Lucy Mangan: Board to tearshttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/10/lucy-mangan-board-games-monopoly
'I look at a Monopoly board and see not a harmlessly entertaining pastime but a microcosmic model of the futility of life'<p>I would have thought, frankly, that modern families were under enough&nbsp;pressure as it is, what with the number of&nbsp;remote controls that have&nbsp;to be kept track of these days,&nbsp;calibrating the right <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylphenidate" title="Ritalin">Ritalin</a> doses for everyone and breaking into&nbsp;council offices every autumn to&nbsp;redraw the intake boundaries for the decent secondary school as needed. But evidently the marketing mavens at <a href="http://www.hasbro.com/en_GB/" title="Hasbro">Hasbro</a> violently disagree. For they have launched a&nbsp;new initiative called <a href="http://hasbro.ea.com/brandlanding.action?brandName=familygamenight" title="Family Game Night">Family Game Night</a> and are sending out sets of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly_(game)" title="Monopoly">Monopoly</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo" title="Cluedo">Cluedo</a> et al to pupils at&nbsp;various schools to encourage families – families who have never done Hasbro any harm whatsoever – to sit down and play together.</p><p>That such a plan ever made it through the preliminary vetting stages is a sure sign that nostalgia has outpaced actual memory. Game nights do not cement family unity; they create blood feuds that echo down the generations.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/10/lucy-mangan-board-games-monopoly">Continue reading...</a>Life and styleFamilyMonopolyFri, 09 Oct 2009 23:10:42 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/oct/10/lucy-mangan-board-games-monopolyThe GuardianLucy Mangan Photograph: The Guardian<strong>Lucy Mangan</strong>2009-10-09T23:10:42Z